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Winter Equipment at Fort Emery

Toy Story Payland has lived through its first winter of operation and as was to be expected there were some adjustments necessary… The most visible change could be spotted at the Army Men Parachute Drop. It turned out that the green painted concrete floor used in the outdoor queue area as well as for the landing pad which guests have to cross to board and disembark the actual parachute seats was extremly slippery when wet and also prone to ice building up on it. The solution thick black rubber mats were placed over it.

As can be seen in the photo taken at the end of December (there is even some snow next to the stacked up boxes) little metal pins were placed on the mat on the landing pat to indicate the safety zone under and around each of the seats. Due to the perspective of the photo not visible is the fact that these mats do not have a closed surface but actually large round openings giving it more the impression of a web if seen from above. This means that the rough outline of the large paintings on the landing pat is still somewhat perceptible for guests looking down when on the ride – and also that the lights build into the ground can still illuminate the parachutes from below during the ride sequence.

Nevertheless it comes as a surprise that Imagineering after its years of experience with the weather at Disneyland Paris did not notice the potential problem in advance and chose different materials, instead having to come up with a temporary looking solution on short notice during the first winter which does not integrate well into the overall look of the area.